Over the holidays, I received this book as a gift from a friend. I will say it was really a unique and thoughtful gift. And, this book is amazing.

I50 Years of Canadian Beer Labels, from Touchwood Editions, is an art book, with its art being beer bottle labels. Each folio contains a print of beer label on the right page and a description on the left explaining who brewed it. Most of the breweries are long gone, though a few beers may still exist, but are produced by a macrobrewery (think Lucky Lager). Randomly opening to a page leads us to Cosgrave Export Brewery Company’s Old Munich Lager Beer, which, according to the book, was brewed in Toronto in the early ’30s. The label features cartoon elves at different stages of the brewing process. Old Munich’s disappearance was possibly due to its German name around the time of World War II.

Just in time for Canada’s 150th birthday, you can see its history. In beer labels.